No fewer than six persons, who were held by the Department of State Services, DSS, over their roles in the protests over bad governance in Nigeria, have been freed by the security agency, Vanguard learned on Sunday.

According to competent security sources, the six persons were freed last Thursday in Kaduna on the orders of the Director General of the DSS, Adeola Oluwatosin Ajayi.

The source, who Is familiar with the release of the suspects, told Vanguard on Sunday that three other suspects are, however, being processed by the agency for prosecution having been found to have committed criminal offences during the protest.

The top source said, ?The DG DSS is not interested in the incarceration of innocent citizens for expressing their constitutional rights.

?But is also not going to allow criminal elements take laws into their hands.

?There is incontrovertible evidence to press criminal charges against the three persons that are being held because we have a prima facie evidence against them.

?The DG DSS reiterates citizen?s right to peaceful protest as enshrined in the constitution and regard for the rule of law.

?However, he is resolute on upholding the mandate of the service to decisively investigate and bring to justice those who exploit such rights to perpetrate crime,? the source confirmed to Vanguard on Sunday.

The official disclosed that those released have commended the gesture of the DSS and expressed optimism on the humane face with which the service conducted the investigation that culminated in their unconditional release.

Recall that the #EndBadgovernance protest took place between August 1 and 10 in major cities and towns across the country

The purpose was to draw government?s attention to the hardship in the land.

However, the protest was hijacked by some criminal elements in many states and innocent persons subjected to untold harassment and intimidation by hoodlums. (Sunday Vanguard)

?File: People protest against hardship on the street of Lagos, Nigeria, Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. Thousands of mostly young people poured onto the streets across Nigeria on Thursday as they protested against the country?s worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation. Security forces fired tear gas to disperse some of the protesters in the capital, Abuja. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba)